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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to